Meet Big Business' Favorite Granny
US Chamber of Commerce Granny: Her winnings? A whopping $281, plus the arbitrator's fee. Kruse concludes that without arbitration, "The normal person just wouldn't be able to do that. Consumer Avocate's Texas grandmother Jordan Fogal testified before the House Subcommittee on Commercial and Administrative Law about the new house she and her husband purchased in 2002 for $360,000...home needed $150,000 worth of repairs...The arbitrator came from the American Arbitration Association, a private group preselected by the builder. As a private justice system, AAA charged Fogal for every last piece of paper, meeting, and subpoena generated in arbitration, not to mention the arbitrator's time, which ran as much as $475 an hour... In 2006, the arbitrator awarded the Fogals a mere $40,000, even after finding that the builder had engaged in fraud. Adding insult to injury, she then ordered the Fogals to pay the builder $14,000 for some of its legal fees for the trouble they caused the builder.

KB Homes Announces Fire Sale
Representatives from White Residential and KB Homes refused comment on Friday when asked if corners were cut in an effort to speed up construction.  Industry experts have speculated that the structure might be condemned due to shoddy workmanship. See news reports

Editorial: Texas courts' credibility problem
Nothing underscores this point better than the May 2 Texas Supreme Court decision favoring Perry Homes over homeowners Jane and Robert Cull. The court's decision, overturning two lower courts' rulings to compensate the Culls for a defective home, probably will be debated for years. But what isn't debatable is that the founder of Perry Homes, Bob Perry, is a major donor to the campaigns of the Supreme Court's justices. He, his family and their political action committees have donated more than $250,000 to the nine justices – all Republicans – including those who dissented in the Cull case.

Half-built homes becoming eyesores
In one Collin County neighborhood the weeds are growing and residents are growing impatient. It’s been 3 months since Buescher Homes, the large builder, went bankrupt. The fallout: half-built homes and now code compliance issues. But Frisco is reacting. They will mow 70 unsightly yards Monday after putting a lien on each property to get it done.

Web Extra: Don't be a sitting duck for costly roofing scams
Well, the Defenders found out that politics and special interests have made Texas a roofing scammers paradise. Texas is the only Gulf Coast state that doesn’t license roofers. Alex Winslow runs Texas Watch, a consumer watchdog group. He says making licensing the law would make roofers behave. “Accountability for roofing, is slim and none as it stands today.” ...every time a roofing licensing law has been introduced in the past five years, Fuentes says, he and his lobbyists went to work. Like in 2005 when the last version of the law came up—meeting with this man—Representative Kino Flores, Chair of the House Committee on Licensing.

Donors shouldn’t tip scales of justice
Retired U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor has railed about state courts being corrupted by large campaign contributions to elected judges. In her next speech about the influence of cash in the courtrooms, she will have a perfect example from Texas. Homebuilder Bob Perry has given millions of dollars to state and national political campaigns and candidates, including all nine members of the Texas Supreme Court. Perry hit the jackpot late last week as a divided Supreme Court ruled in favor of his company, Perry Homes, in an $800,000 arbitration case. Perry and his family have donated more than $260,000 to the justices.

A Triangle family's dream home literally turned into a nightmare 
Their brand new house left them with headaches and hospital bills. Deborah Moore tells Troubleshooter Diane Wilson, "We were dizzy, my head was hurting. My husband was dizzy." That's not the way you're supposed to feel right after moving into your brand new home. But Deborah headaches got even worse when she found out what was really wrong. She adds, "I'm like, what you mean a gas leak in a new home? I was stunned."... She wants KB to buy back the house. She says she just doesn't feel safe there.

A message from Janet Ahmad - Erin Brockovitch Confirms Contamination in Lennar Homes & Texas Supreme Court Grants Double Standard Decision to 'Bob the Builder' Perry

TEXAS SUPREME COURT GRANTS DOUBLE STANDARD FOR BUILDER
The Robert and Jane Cull’s construction defects case was thought to be the only homeowner Binding Arbitration victory in Texas history until today, when it was overturned by the state’s highest court. The very rich Bob Perry has demonstrated in brazen fashion the lengths at which builders will seek relief from all warranty liability.  As for Robert and Jane Cull’s 11-year ordeal, no amount of Bob Perry’s money will ever compensate them for their years of being deprived of the full enjoyment their home they so valiantly fought to preserve.  The Texas high court and Bob Perry have this day made the case for the undeniable need for campaign finance reform and the passage of the Arbitration Fairness Act introduced by Senator Russ Feingold and Congressman Hank Johnson.  Read HOBB Press Release

Give Texas homeowners better tools to force irresponsible builders to fix construction defects
The mounting numbers of unresolved complaints make increasingly clear that the Texas Residential Construction Commission Act, passed in the 2003 Legislature, has become for buyers of poorly constructed homes the nightmare many feared it would. Adding insult to this injurious legislation is how the law is falsely touted as an aide to homeowners stuck in shoddily built houses...families spent countless hours in futile attempts to get their builder to fix the problems and thousands of dollars out of pocket on repairs.Then the aggrieved owners were further abused by the Texas law that was supposed to help homeowners at the mercy of predatory builders.